“Italy is Europe’s third-largest economy and a founding member of the European Union, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7, and the G8. Italy is also Europe’s largest market for luxury goods” (“Ecommerce in Italy”, 2021). The consumers in Italy have been embracing E-retail in recent years making the market larger. The Italian Government and key operators have invested to make the infrastructure advanced and widely accessible. Italian consumers, very much like US consumers, are using mobile devices increasingly more. This being the result of the advancements in technology in Italy that included, improved internet access infrastructure and broadband connection availability, mobile/smartphone access, and improved transaction security. “E-commerce in Italy is developing rapidly and has registered annual double-digit growth since 2014” (“Italy – e-commerce”, 2020).
The B2C e-commerce market in Italy generated $36 billion in 2019 and is projected to advance in the upcoming years. The most frequently used forms of payment for e-commerce are an Italian credit card called CartaSi along with MasterCard, VISA, and PayPal. Some of the biggest B2C retailing platforms such as “Subito.it, Aliexpress.com, Zalando.it, Autoscout24.it, Groupon.it, Yoox, and Pixmania. Furthermore, Banzai Srl, Italy’s leading e-commerce operator controls ePrice.it and Saldiprivati.it” (“Italy – ecommerceitaly – e-commerce”, 2019). In 2020 Italy was impacted by the pandemic, like many other countries around the world. This created more opportunities for retailers to advance their online platforms and bring in new customers. The pandemic made Ecommerce an essential part of Italian living, changing consumer behaviors. The pandemic has taught us that consistent technology, easy-to-use, and personalized omnichannel experience must be part of every retailer’s strategy if they want to stay ahead of competitors. “The platform needs to provide customers with channels that can adapt to their priorities, and benefit from their purchasing power” (Puggioni , Digitalization: Light at the end of the tunnel, 2021).
